Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, moving closer to a possible presidential run, has stepped down as a paid adviser to a for-profit education company that sells online courses to public university students.

As Mike Baird contemplates stricter measures to address concerns over lobbying and political fundraising in the wake of revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the new NSW Premier should consider some of the dubious practices and sensible rules in the global capital of influence peddling.

The bridge scandal that has engulfed New Jersey governor Chris Christie has also brought more disruption to the already-muddled early stages of the Republican Party’s search for a 2016 presidential nominee. Republicans appear headed for the most wide-open and unpredictable nomination campaign in decades.

Political debates are often the principal means by which voters choose who they want to vote for. Which is why Australia should consider following the footsteps of the United States to create a non-partisan debate commission.

The ALP has snaffled a trio of “digital experts” from US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. Their task is to flood Twitter and Facebook with content designed to smear Tony Abbott in the eyes of the ADHD generation.

A Change.org petition targeting Myer has collected more than 21,000 signatures in less than 24 hours, as the department store fumbled its response to social media outrage over comments by CEO Bernie Brookes on the NDIS.

In recent months, the gulf between Treasury and the wealth industry has widened. Each time Treasury points out that superannuation tax breaks are unsustainable, the wealth industry insists they are and that they must be retained.

Barack Obama, who was once cool to the oil and gas industry, then tried to take credit for the shale gas boom against his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. The oil patch cried foul. A recent congressional report seems to back up up the oil and gas workers’ view.

The small Baptist college that television preacher Jerry Falwell founded in Lynchberg in the US state of Virginia in 1971 has capitalised on the online education boom to become an evangelical mega-university with global reach.

The deputy governor of the Peoples Bank of China, Yi Gang, says “China is fully prepared” for a looming currency war should one break out. Ahh, the US and China. Remember when the US railed at China for artificially keeping its currency low to aid its exporters?

Australian professionals are seeing their positions moved to cheaper locations, such as the Philippines, where it is estimated the outsourcing industry will employ 1 million people by the end of next year.

Private equity partners in the US are fighting attempts to increase their personal tax rates after last year’s presidential candidate and former private equity executive Mitt Romney drew attention to the industry’s high incomes and beneficial tax treatment.

Updated | Israel’s voters have handed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a stunning rebuke by voting in droves for moderate centrists and sending a clear message they did not like the idea of the country’s further shift to the hard right.

The sudden boom in US oil and natural gas production could eventually lead to a shift in relations with the Middle East as the United States becomes a net exporter of energy, says President Barack Obama.

The decision by Fox News to cut back the use of high-profile political pundits Karl Rove and Dick Morris raises a prospect few ever thought possible: that the hugely successful conservative cable news channel is in retreat.

United States President Barack Obama is standing behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Tel Aviv continues a four-day aerial assault on Hamas rocket sites in the Gaza Strip. Mr Obama spoke with Mr Netanyahu on the weekend and “reaffirmed again our close co-operation with the Israelis” while encouraging steps to minimise the loss of civilian lives.